Candidates Starting To Turn SOPA Into A Campaign Issue: Karen Kwiatkowski Goes After Bob Goodlatte

from the don't-mess-with-the-internet dept

We recently pointed out that it was likely that candidates running against SOPA supporters (especially in the House) would start using SOPA as a campaign issue — which could draw the attention and support of the netroots community, like the folks at Reddit, who are just itching to support candidates who oppose SOPA supporters. Well, here’s one they might want to check out. Karen Kwiatkowski is running against Rep. Bob Goodlatte in Virginia, and is using SOPA as a key campaign talking point, noting accurately that Goodlatte both was in charge of putting SOPA together for much of the year (though, towards the end, Lamar Smith took over) and that he’s become Smith’s go to guy in ushering the bill through the House. Karen sees this as a big problem:

Bob Goodlatte spent 2011 CO-AUTHORING and INTRODUCING the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA makes the federal government EVEN BIGGER.

If passed, SOPA will dramatically increase the federal government?s role in our lives, online and offline. It authorizes the Attorney General to block websites accused of copyright infringement from search engines and ISPs. And it allows the Attorney General to ?commence action? against them without a court order. SOPA will result in fewer independent websites, blogs, media sources, start-ups and tech industry jobs. And as a result, lower quality.

How will it do this, you ask? Simple. It increases the cost of doing business for U.S. tech firms, payment network providers and advertisers.

In addition to increasing legal and compliance costs for small businesses, it also increases the size and scope of the federal government.

SOPA expands the State Department, Attorney General’s Office, Copyright Office and other agencies and creates a new set of bureaucrats. One we have never heard of before is the ?intellectual property attache.? IP Attaches will be trained and appointed to regional bureaus, embassies and diplomatic missions throughout the world. And they work with copyright holders at the expense of taxpayers.

With the Reddit community so actively looking for candidates to support, perhaps it’s time to check out Karen.

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Comments on “Candidates Starting To Turn SOPA Into A Campaign Issue: Karen Kwiatkowski Goes After Bob Goodlatte”

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47 Comments
Hephaestus (profile) says:

Re: Re: Interesting thought

Of course we would not want to infuriate our local shills, trolls, politicians, and other lacking humanity types. What was I thinking?

I have an idea lets do everything we can to help them remove all constitutional rights, put people in jail forever without a trial, torture people until they confess, shut down their business because they slighted the wrong business interest, and go back to the good old days of church led inquisitions.

That is exactly what I want …

PaulT (profile) says:

Re: Re: Interesting thought

“I want to defeat a bill so that pirates and counterfeiters can stay in business?”

Of course, if you weren’t as intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt as Lamar Smith himself, you’d recognise that this is nothing like the point being made. But, you knew that. You just can’t bear for people you regularly attack under false pretenses to be on the right side of history again.

tsavory (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Since all that hate these bills because of the many reasons that have been stated time and time again that have nothing to do with piracy are pirates.
Why don’t you censor yourself off this site here is how then you will not have to talk to any of us pirates again!

It is simple go to C:WindowsSystem32driversetc in that location there is a file called hosts right click it click the edit and at the very bottom of that put
127.0.0.1 techdirt.com
127.0.0.1 http://www.techdirt.com
and save

el_segfaulto (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Laziest…troll…ever! Put some thought and originality into it man! Have some pride in your work. Kids these days have no conception of what it means to troll well, it used to be that you could count on your local troll to compare you to Hitler, or to call you a child.

Tis a sad state of affairs when even the trolls have given up, I suppose the next step is to offshore their shilling to another country.

bjupton (profile) says:

Re: Re: Karen K

No, reasonable people can disagree. And just because I agree with someone on a position, does not mean that I agree with them on every position.

Really, who thinks like that? That’s pure intellectual sloppiness. John Nash was a pretty fucked up dude, but that doesn’t make his work any less valid. He still had and created an insight. I don’t have to have paranoid schizophrenia to understand what he showed us.

You are either completely insane yourself in that you cannot see this, or you are being paid. I hope you are enjoying the trappings of your success. The rest of us look down upon you for it.

Michael Barclay (profile) says:

I was about to send Kwiatkowski some money until I looked at some other issues

I was about to send Kwiatkowski some money until I looked at her positions on some other issues. For example, things like immigration:
http://karenkforcongress.com/issues/immigration

and abortion:
http://karenkforcongress.com/issues/abortion

and the 16th Amendment!
http://karenkforcongress.com/node/40

After seeing all that, I’d rather donate to Darrell Issa.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: I was about to send Kwiatkowski some money until I looked at some other issues

Repeal of the 16th Amendment is advocated by several constitutional law scholars for a myriad of reasons, so it is not paricularly surprising that a person of conservative/libertarian bent would agree.

Like you, I did visit her website and look at her position on many of the current “hot button” issues. Frankly, she makes in my view Rush Limbaugh look positively progressive.

While I happen to agree with several of her positions, it does seem that she has staked out a platform that does not align with that of those who are likely to vote in primary and general elections.

Dave says:

Re: I was about to send Kwiatkowski some money until I looked at some other issues

You won’t be getting a Liberal Democrat to win that seat anytime soon. This is Virginia, remember? Don’t forget that a lot of these “so called” progressives are supporting the SOPA bill as well. I have always traditionally voted Democrat, but I am ready to throw one of my own under the bus as a result of their support of this bill. If this District is going to support another right winger anyway, it might as well be one that is not out to destroy this Internet.

Violated (profile) says:

Politics

Oh I can imagine that one.

Politician #1: You are trying to destroy the Internet, raise The Great Firewall of America, harm the fastest growing market for innovation, the solution does not stop the problem… and you smell bad.

Politician #2: You are nothing more than the head of the freetards who rape the Internet, thousands of Hollywood jobs are being lost every day, favourite TV series are at risk, productions are closing, ticket prices increase, we can’t compete against free… and I heard from your friends you are a dirty whore.

Now I only wonder what Politician #3 would say to attack both of them? Now, now children and such.

Kaleb says:

Im from Karen’s district. It’s extremely conservative and no democrat or independent would have a chance here. Karen is a Ron Paul republican, if you’re liberal at least you know she’s honest and she’s anti-war pro civil liberties. And she’s got a campaign well underway and has a chance.

Byt I suppose the neocon author of SOPA might be better for you.

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